The Core Vocabulary of German With this book, you will learn German fast and efficiently. This book contains practical vocabulary for both spoken and written German.
Intended for beginners and intermediate students, this book covers vocabulary roughly from CEFR A1 (complete beginner) to B1 (somewhat able).
To help you become fluent fast, each entry in this book contains
• English translation(s)
• German to English example sentences
• IPA phonetic spelling
• Detailed Part of Speech information
Why Study By Frequency?:
Not all words are created equal. Some words are used more than others, and are thus more valuable to know. The secret to becoming fluent fast in a language, is by learning the right vocabulary.
Studies have shown that the most used 2.500 words account for 92% of all spoken German, and 82% of all written German text.
How Much Vocabulary Do You Need To Know?
While it’s important to note it’s impossible to pin down these numbers and statistics with 100% accuracy, these are a global average of multiple sources. According to scientific research, this is the amount of vocabulary needed for varying levels of fluency:
• 250 words: the essential core of a language. Without these words, you cannot construct sentences.
• 750 words: those that are used every single day by every person who speaks the language.
• 2,500 words: those that should enable you to express everything you could possibly want to say, although some creativity might be required.
• 5,000 words: the active vocabulary of native speakers without higher education. You will understand about 90% of all written text.
• 10,000 words: the active vocabulary of native speakers with higher education.
• 20,000 words: the amount you need to recognize passively in order to read, understand, and enjoy a work of literature such as a novel by a notable author.
Keeping above facts in mind, the value of a frequency dictionary is immense. At least, if you want to become fluent in a language fast. Study the most frequent words, build your vocabulary and progress naturally.
What is Inside This Book?
A frequency list of the most frequently used German words, based on analysis of 20 gigabytes of German subtitles, the equivalent of 80.000 books of 200 pages each; more than two large libraries worth of text.
A large base text collection is absolutely vital in order to establish a reliable general frequency list.
Subtitles have the advantage of corresponding both to written and spoken language. This makes subtitles the best method for creating a useful and practical word frequency list.
This German to English frequency dictionary can roughly be divided in three parts.
• 2.500 German words in ranked by general frequency
• Frequency ranking by part of speech (E.G, the most used adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc)
• 2.500 German words in alphabetical order
German pronunciation can be tricky. To help you pronounce German words correctly, we added phonetic transcriptions of German words. We used the International Phonetic alphabet for phonetic spelling.
Summary
The German Frequency Dictionary – Essential Vocabulary gives you a practical word list to learn German vocabulary. Study the most used words to rapidly gain a base vocabulary in German. These high-frequency words are a great tool for beginners and intermediate students.
The frequency dictionary can be used as a stand-alone tool, or in combination with any other language learning program, app or book. This book roughly covers CEFR vocabulary ratings from A1 (absolute beginner) to B1 (somewhat proficient).
Invest this book, and invest in yourself. You will amaze yourself, your friends and your family by how fast you’re progressing in your journey of speaking German.
